BBC: How important is play?bv

What was your favorite game when you were a child, Pippa?

I think my favourite game was skipping with a skipping rope. How about you?

Well, I could never skip, so I think I just preferred playing football. 

Ahh! Well, that's a good game to play in the playground. 

Eighty years ago, it was quite common for children in Britan's cities to play  in bombsites, the ruins of houses which had been destroyed in World War 2. Today the idea is back in fashion, with kids playing not in bombsites but in 'junk playgrounds', also called 'adventure playgrounds', also called 'adventure playgrounds'. In contrast to pre-made playgrounds, where swings and slides are fixed in place, adventure playgrounds provide pieces of building materials for kids to build things themselves. 

Reporter William Kremer went to see one such playground in Wrexham, North Wales, for BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World:

At first glace, the ladn is little more than a junkyard. There are stacks of used wooden pallets and big reels for holding wires. But if you look a littel bit closer, you'll see crooked homemade structures, hidey-holes and turrets. Children run barefoot. They swing on ropes and throw themselves down a makeshift water slide. 

At first glace, William sees only junk. The phrase at first glance means looking at something for the first tiem, before having a chance to look more carefully.

Adventure playgrounds are indeed full of junk: pieces of construction material like old tyres, planks of wood and lenghts of rope. But look closely and you'll see children using the junk to play, building dens and hidey-holes. A hidey-hole is a small place for hiding things, or in this case, for children to hide themselves. 

In this episode, we'll be hearing how adventure playgrounds are giving kids the freedom and space to play. As usual, we'll be learning some useful nw words and phrases. And remember- you can find all this episode's vocabulary, along with a transcript, on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. 

But now I have a question for you, Pippa. We know that adventure playgrounds started off after the Second World War, but in which country?

a) France   b) Germany     or  c) Denmark?

Hmm... I think maybe France. I think French children maybe were very adventurous. 

OK, well, we'll find out the answer to that question later in the programme. Adventure playgrounds give kids the freedom to choose how they play.  According to child development expert Dr Anna Housley Juster, this freedom is vital, as she explains here to BBC World Service's People Fixing the World:

It's true. We do tend to minimize play in certain ways, but actually after the most basic needs are met for children- so, food, shelter, water, safe place to be- play is by far the most important factor for healthy child development. 

Anna thinks play is as important as a child's basic nees, like food and safety, but unfortunately the importance of play tends to be minimized. If something tends to happen, it happens often and is likely to happen again. 

Anna says that after a child's basic needs are met, play is by far the most important factor in a healthy childhood. She uses the pyhrase by far to mean by a great amount. For example, your teacher might say, "You're by far the best student in class!"

The freedom to take controlled risks in a safe environment is what Anna calls 'self-directed paly', Here, she explains more to Myra Anubi presenter of BBC programme People Fixing the World: